to think it isn't greedy to eat a whole fish, portion of chips and mushy peas with bread and butter?

[Greensleeves]

Opinions vary wildly in our family; DH and DS2 will happily eat a large portion of chips with a fish, or a pie and a fishcake, or a fishcake and a jumbo battered sausage. I will eat a fishcake and 2/3 of a portion of chips, but I like bread and butter to make chip butties as well. In-laws think we are all insanely greedy and will split a small fish between them and a handful of chips each. If they have mushy peas, they will eat commensurately fewer chips because peas are incredibly filling.

What's your chippy order? And do you think a portion of chips is designed to be shared, or is an expected portion for one person?

Obviously it depends on your individual appetite, but a portion is designed for one person! That’s pretty much what ‘a portion’ means.

Fine if your in-laws can’t manage a whole portion because they have stomachs the size of thimbles or derive some sort of pleasure from abstemious martyrdom or something, but they’ve got a right bloody nerve telling other people they’re greedy for eating more than they do.

My go-to chip shop order where I live (Manchester) is cod, chips and curry sauce, or pie, chips and gravy. My go-to chip shop order where I’m actually from (the south east) is rock, chips and a battered roe. Loads of salt and vinegar. Also ketchup but you mustn’t call it ketchup; it has to be called red sauce. Acceptable drinks to have with a chip shop tea are: a cup of tea, a pint of lager, a can of some weird fizzy drink you wouldn’t normally choose (eg cream soda or ginger beer) or - weirdly - champagne/Cava/Prosecco.

Fish, small chips and curry sauce for me please, and I will devour every morsel!

Our local chippy does huge portions of chips. I can either manage a full portion of chips and nothing else, or a half portion plus fish or whatever.

I get a large fish and chips between me and adult DS then add peas to mine (DS hates them). The portions are huge and I probably have about 1/3. I don't have a tiny appetite but lots of deep fried food upsets my gut and it's not worth the discomfort.

God I want fish and chips. With a buttered roll. Salt, vinegar, ketchup for the fish and chip roll and mayo for the side chips. Immediately. And a lilt.

Well the chippy order we had at my sister's house the other night was fish supper for my sister and for me, sausage supper for DD and a fritter, chips and a buttered roll for BIL. Our fish suppers had two fish in them and DDs sausage supper had two sausages. DSis and I ate one fish each and DD ate one and a half sausages. BIL ate the rest as well as his order. What would your MIL say to him?😀

We never eat fish and chips but always massively over-order other takeaways.

If you can happily eat that amount, then it’s not your in-laws’ concern. Unless you’re all fat and it’s their way of having a dig at you…😂

If you want steak, then you're weird and unfeminine and heading for an early grave

Seriously, I really struggle to eat in front of her. I can feel her watching me. As a pp pointed out, I'm being a hypocrite because I've referenced her eating habits on this thread in an equally critical way...but in my defence I would never make a judgemental comment or try to make her feel uncomfortable about her choices while she's eating. I tense up just looking at the menu when we're eating with her, I know she's gearing up to have her say. If I order something like a salad she will congratulate me in front of everyone!

She sounds awful OP. I hope she’s not saying stuff like this around children, spouting shit like that causes eating disorders. I would ask her to stop and start seeing less of her if she doesn’t.

I think a standard portion of chippy chips is easily designed to feed at least 2, chips are quite filling. I consider myself pretty greedy (I’m also not slim) and my teenage son is like a bottomless pit but we will share a single portion of fish, chips and mushy peas between us and be full. I can’t imagine being able to fit in bread and butter too without at least having less chips to compensate. But each to there own, if it works for you.

Where do chip shops sell battered scallops (that cost c. £35 per kilo raw)?

Definitely depends on the chippy.

DH and I share one fish and medium chips and a pot of mushy peas from our local one.

DH is one of those tall-slim-hollow legs types who will cheerfully eat enormous portions every meal but even he is defeated by the gigantic ones from this chippy!

Now I want chips.

I think we'll all be munching a side order of Statins and chips one day, while our arteries groan under the strain of it all 😁

And they’re delicious, especially in a butty!

Airfryer is wonderful for leftover chips/fish etc. 😋 I really want chips now

I bet whoever it was that first mentioned scallops wishes they'd included the word 'potato' before it for the selectively word-blind.

Unless you’re all fat and it’s their way of having a dig at you…😂

This is probably what's behind it.

People very rarely comment on slim people with very large appetites, or if they do, it's not generally to call them 'greedy'.

Even better when you remember you have them left over if eg it's late into the evening

If I was at someone's house and dh got a steak and I got served salmon instead I would not be one happy bunny. I love both tbh but that's just rude.

Small cod each (or pie) and a medium portion of chips split between us. I have a curry sauce, he has mushy peas, and we both have a slice of bread and butter

The largest cod or if in Scotland haddock, I share a large chips with DH. I freeze half a portion if I have my own, ten minutes in a hot oven (lazy girls take note, fry two eggs, slap the beans on and read your book). There are no UPF in this. Flour, water and vinegar in the batter (my sistets is a chef). Chips are oil and veg. I haven't eaten a chip butty since my late Welsh father died. He would say a scallop is a potatoe slice in batter. Saturday afternoon tea with match of the day and Tom sauce.

I will happily wolf down a full portion of battered fish, but I'm a bit uninterested in chips in general, so the OH and I will normally split a supper and a single fish.

When it comes to Chinese / Japanese / Korean / Turkish food, however, I am bottomless.

MIL is the sort of person who serves steak for the men and salmon for the women, and will performatively leave salad because she's "full" after a couple of bits of cucumber and a new potato. She thinks I eat like a man and it's unnattractive.

Eurgh, I can't stand women like her. She can get in the bin with her misogynistic views

Where we are a small portion of chips gives a really good helping to two adults and a large portion will feed a family - and I'm usually a big eater! But I wouldn't want bread and butter with it as well - and definitely no mushy peas. Each to their own though - if that's what you want then good on you!

I agree with others- depends on the chippy.

I have a few within easy drive and the portions vary enormously.

My favourite has a huge portion of fish and chips, the fish is fresh, chunky and delicious. A "fish supper" usually haddock and chips easily feed two people- two huge fish in crispy batter- at least 25cm in length, and an equal amount of chips. Cost is around £7.50.

Women like your MIL make me want to get raging drunk and binge eat in front of her (neither thing I’ve ever done in my life). So unnecessary, ruining a perfectly enjoyable shared meal with irrelevant and self-centered and BORING unwanted commentary.

(Although fyi I do think your portion size is massive! DH, one DC and I share a large cod and chips and there will prob be some chips leftover. DC is skinny, DH is slim and I’m overweight)